This from Tom Brady
I’m turning off this game I can’t watch these ridiculous penalties anymore #TENvsJAC
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) September 20, 2019
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. — Robin Williams
So sayeth the goat. Surprised His tweets aren't in red letters.

Troy Aikman is no fan of officiating two weeks into this NFL season. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)
In Weeks 1 and 2 there were wrong calls. Bad calls. Mystifying calls. Calls that made fans ask, “What was that?” Too darn many calls. Even Troy Aikman, the Fox Sports broadcaster and Hall of Fame quarterback, is fed up, saying, “it’s nauseating” the way all the penalties delay and detract from the game.
“At a time when the league and sport is trying to do all that it can to get the calls right, there’s more controversy than there’s ever been before. I’ve never been a fan of instant replay,” he told Jimmy Traina on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast.
“I didn’t like it when I was playing and I didn’t like it when it returned when the votes were made years ago to make instant replay part of our game,” Aikman said. “I just think that for the most part, the officials were doing a good job. There were times when I was impacted by the wrong calls and there were times I benefited from the wrong calls. I think over time, it evens itself out.”
The first experiment with instant replay came in 1976; by 1986, it was being used in regular season games. It “gives us a better chance to walk off the field error-free,” Art McNally, then the supervisor of NFL officials, said at the time. But the officiating complaints haven’t gone away.
[The NFL's officiating headaches just won't go away no matter what it does]
“I like what Bill Parcells said back at the time. If we can get all the calls right all the time, then he was in favor of it, but if we can’t, then he was not,” Aikman said. “Now we’re reviewing pass interference. That’s only complicated things from the fan’s perspective. ‘Okay, well, why isn’t that pass interference? Why isn’t that called?’ It’s put these officials in a really tough position. They’re gun shy, to be quite honest with you. The scrutiny has never been as intense as it is right now.
“I don’t know how they correct it because I think in a lot of ways it’s hard to go backward. Instant replay is definitely a part of our game. I don’t think we can ever just not have that. But we keep adding things to it. In addition to that, we keep adding player safety rules, which I’m all for player safety, but it’s hard. It’s become really hard to call a game. I’m sure it’s maddening to watch a game with all the penalties. It’s rare that a play happens when there isn’t some kind of penalty that’s thrown. It’s nauseating from my perspective, and I don’t think anyone, I don’t think those in the game like it and I certainly don’t think the fans like it.”
The league’s competition committee quickly tried to address officiating issues during the offseason. There was an early-season outcry about roughing-the-passer penalties in 2018, and the committee immediately clarified how the rule should be applied. After a missed pass interference call in the NFC championship game in January helped send the Los Angeles Rams rather than the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl, owners voted to make interference reviewable.
Aikman had a front-row seat for the latest controversy Sunday in a Saints-Rams rematch — another game marred by an officiating error. This time, the Saints lost a touchdown when an official blew the whistle in the middle of a fumble return by defensive lineman Cam Jordan instead of allowing the play to be completed and using replay to determine whether Rams quarterback Jared Goff had thrown an incompletion or fumbled. That meant that replay could award the Saints only possession of the ball and not a score. Jordan later compared the official to a Foot Locker employee. That was the second time this season the Saints have been left shaking their heads; after their Week 1 win, the league admitted that a mistake cost the team 15 seconds after an improper clock runoff.
[The NFL’s pass interference replay rule has brought more confusion than clarity]
“Why are there errors? It appears to me that many officials are working using their own personal perspective of what is or is not a foul for pass interference, holding, roughing the passer, etc., which has led to inconsistencies from game to game,” Terry McAulay, a former NFL referee who is a rules analyst for NBC, wrote The Washington Post’s Mark Maske via email. “They seem to lack clearly identifiable standards for these very subjective fouls.”
Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties?
’ It’s put these officials in a really tough position. They’re gun shy, to be quite honest with you. The scrutiny has never been as intense as it is right now.I'd really like to give him the F* Troy Aikman, but he is dead on here.
@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties?because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?
@"JimmyinSD" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold. Saw several plays where the hands were grasping outside the shoulders, like they always do, and no flag.@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?
@"JimmyinSD" said:Okay. I think Rhodes has always been flagged a bunch. Cook cleared out the middle of a zone defense (this is an important distinction because Cook actually sought out the defender and begain pushing him out of the way of where the play was designed to go). GB has 2 offensive holdings on the year, the Vikings have 3 (at least 2 if not all 3 by the rookie center). The Patriots have the same number of OPI penalties as the Vikings, are the refs trying to screw them also?@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?It seems like it's not that a penalty was committed, but people just don't want the refs to actually call the penalties. So again I ask, why not put the blame on the players commiting the penalties? I'm guessing nobody had a problem with the refs calling offsides on Griffen in the first game. Why is it a issue for other obvious calls?
@"greediron" said:Why only point out the Packers and not the boarder line holds that the Vikings commit? There's a boarder line hold on Cook's long run, should the refs have called that one too?@"JimmyinSD" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold. Saw several plays where the hands were grasping outside the shoulders, like they always do, and no flag.@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?
@"silverjoel" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold?@"greediron" said:Why only point out the Packers and not the boarder line holds that the Vikings commit? There's a boarder line hold on Cook's long run, should the refs have called that one too?@"JimmyinSD" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold. Saw several plays where the hands were grasping outside the shoulders, like they always do, and no flag.@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?There are always borderline holds. But the style of "blocking" used by GB was the reason for this emphasis. The grasping of the pads outside the shoulders, that is what they wanted to eliminate. So how does the professional holders on GB not get called for this now?
As EG said, they are really good at it.
@"greediron" said:@"silverjoel" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold?@"greediron" said:Why only point out the Packers and not the boarder line holds that the Vikings commit? There's a boarder line hold on Cook's long run, should the refs have called that one too?@"JimmyinSD" said:They focused on holding specifically because of how the packers have gotten away with it for years. So how do they suddenly never hold. Saw several plays where the hands were grasping outside the shoulders, like they always do, and no flag.@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?There are always borderline holds. But the style of "blocking" used by GB was the reason for this emphasis. The grasping of the pads outside the shoulders, that is what they wanted to eliminate. So how does the professional holders on GB not get called for this now?
As EG said, they are really good at it.
Maybe they adjusted their technique while working with the refs all off season (which every team got to do)?Evidence to support this would be that Rodgers is currently on pace for the most sacks he has ever had in a season.
We teach holding for our O line. You can hold all day long as long as both pads are parallel to one another....it won't ever be called, so you've got to "mirror" your oppositions pads.
Once their pads are no longer parallel, theres a chance (a chance) to be called.......but it has to be pretty blatant to get the flag.
@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:Okay. I think Rhodes has always been flagged a bunch. Cook cleared out the middle of a zone defense (this is an important distinction because Cook actually sought out the defender and begain pushing him out of the way of where the play was designed to go). GB has 2 offensive holdings on the year, the Vikings have 3 (at least 2 if not all 3 by the rookie center). The Patriots have the same number of OPI penalties as the Vikings, are the refs trying to screw them also?@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?It seems like it's not that a penalty was committed, but people just don't want the refs to actually call the penalties. So again I ask, why not put the blame on the players commiting the penalties? I'm guessing nobody had a problem with the refs calling offsides on Griffen in the first game. Why is it a issue for other obvious calls?
on Rhoades... not really that I recall, it became an issue last year when they put emphasis on it.on Cook... that has always been allowed, as far as your version.. i think it was a bit more in the gray than you make it sound, but there has always been rub routes and even on sunday it wasnt called by the dozen refs on the field, it came after a review in NY. I didnt say the refs are screwing the Vikes on the holds called, I am saying they were helping the puke for not calling the holds that they said they were going to emphasize.
if you dont want to acknowledge referee bias...then dont, but its not like it doesnt happen, or maybe you missed the part about taking it easy on Tom... the teams and players are not all treated the same in the eyes of the league or the officials.
@"JimmyinSD" said:@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:Okay. I think Rhodes has always been flagged a bunch. Cook cleared out the middle of a zone defense (this is an important distinction because Cook actually sought out the defender and begain pushing him out of the way of where the play was designed to go). GB has 2 offensive holdings on the year, the Vikings have 3 (at least 2 if not all 3 by the rookie center). The Patriots have the same number of OPI penalties as the Vikings, are the refs trying to screw them also?@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?It seems like it's not that a penalty was committed, but people just don't want the refs to actually call the penalties. So again I ask, why not put the blame on the players commiting the penalties? I'm guessing nobody had a problem with the refs calling offsides on Griffen in the first game. Why is it a issue for other obvious calls?
on Rhoades... not really that I recall, it became an issue last year when they put emphasis on it.on Cook... that has always been allowed, as far as your version.. i think it was a bit more in the gray than you make it sound, but there has always been rub routes and even on sunday it wasnt called by the dozen refs on the field, it came after a review in NY. I didnt say the refs are screwing the Vikes on the holds called, I am saying they were helping the puke for not calling the holds that they said they were going to emphasize.
if you dont want to acknowledge referee bias...then dont, but its not like it doesnt happen, or maybe you missed the part about taking it easy on Tom... the teams and players are not all treated the same in the eyes of the league or the officials.
Vikings DPI penalties under Zimmer.2014 - tied for 7th most
2015 - tied for 10th most
2016 - tied for 11th most
2017 - tied for 23rd most (best year)
2018 - tied for 13th mostCheck PFF, although I don't agree with their grading system, they always knock Rhodes down because of penalties.
And no, pick plays are not allowed. They have been called penalties for years. A receiver can impede a defender (rub route by just getting in the way), if done without blatenly blocking them or running through them, but blocking down field on a pass play has been a penalty as long as I can remember. Cook actively blocked the defender with his hand on him.
And the Brady thing, do you know what play that was after? And the quote was "stay off Tom". Was the defender just laying on Brady for too long?
Do you have a bias against refs?
@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:Okay. I think Rhodes has always been flagged a bunch. Cook cleared out the middle of a zone defense (this is an important distinction because Cook actually sought out the defender and begain pushing him out of the way of where the play was designed to go). GB has 2 offensive holdings on the year, the Vikings have 3 (at least 2 if not all 3 by the rookie center). The Patriots have the same number of OPI penalties as the Vikings, are the refs trying to screw them also?@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?It seems like it's not that a penalty was committed, but people just don't want the refs to actually call the penalties. So again I ask, why not put the blame on the players commiting the penalties? I'm guessing nobody had a problem with the refs calling offsides on Griffen in the first game. Why is it a issue for other obvious calls?
on Rhoades... not really that I recall, it became an issue last year when they put emphasis on it.on Cook... that has always been allowed, as far as your version.. i think it was a bit more in the gray than you make it sound, but there has always been rub routes and even on sunday it wasnt called by the dozen refs on the field, it came after a review in NY. I didnt say the refs are screwing the Vikes on the holds called, I am saying they were helping the puke for not calling the holds that they said they were going to emphasize.
if you dont want to acknowledge referee bias...then dont, but its not like it doesnt happen, or maybe you missed the part about taking it easy on Tom... the teams and players are not all treated the same in the eyes of the league or the officials.
Vikings DPI penalties under Zimmer.2014 - tied for 7th most
2015 - tied for 10th most
2016 - tied for 11th most
2017 - tied for 23rd most (best year)
2018 - tied for 13th mostCheck PFF, although I don't agree with their grading system, they always knock Rhodes down because of penalties.
And no, pick plays are not allowed. They have been called penalties for years. A receiver can impede a defender (rub route by just getting in the way), if done without blatenly blocking them or running through them, but blocking down field on a pass play has been a penalty as long as I can remember. Cook actively blocked the defender with his hand on him.
And the Brady thing, do you know what play that was after? And the quote was "stay off Tom". Was the defender just laying on Brady for too long?
Do you have a bias against refs?
Rhodes struggled last year between penalties and hiS coverage due to the way they started to enforce illegal contact - the rest of the team stats are irrelevant.I dont care about PFF and how they grade players, its typically a joke.
and when everybody that has seen that Cook play say WTF, announcers, other players, fuck even packer fans are questioning the call and saying it was a stretch of the rules to make that call... go ahead and argue. (even former heads of officiating said the call on Cook was weak)
I believe the comment about brady was made before the game IIRC. either way "stay off Tom" how is that supposed to be taken. if the defender doesnt hear that about every player that he tackles... how is it to be taken?
bias against refs, no I have a bias against poor or unbalanced officiating, a bias against a league that changes rules and enforcement arbitrarily. the NFL has become a joke in how their officials are calling the games, and honestly its not really mostly on them when they fuck up any more, with the constant dicking with the rules, how are they supposed to keep it all straight?
EDIT: I stand corrected, it was not before the game, the warning came after this hit.... no bias or favoritism here.
The point about Rhodes and PFF is not the grade, that's meaningless, but about the number of penalties against him which they track.
And about penalties, tell the players to

@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"silverjoel" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:Okay. I think Rhodes has always been flagged a bunch. Cook cleared out the middle of a zone defense (this is an important distinction because Cook actually sought out the defender and begain pushing him out of the way of where the play was designed to go). GB has 2 offensive holdings on the year, the Vikings have 3 (at least 2 if not all 3 by the rookie center). The Patriots have the same number of OPI penalties as the Vikings, are the refs trying to screw them also?@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties? because they are making part of the game, things that have always been part of the game, a penalty now. Rhodes PI calls last year for making contact with receivers that has been acceptable his entire career, Cook getting the OPI for making contact with a defender on the TD... those have never been penalties until recently. plenty more... however how the league can focus on holding by the OL and make it a talking point and then let the packers get away with it when they are one of the worst offenders historically... how about we blame the league and the owners for not providing a stable set of rules and professional refs that train to make these calls?It seems like it's not that a penalty was committed, but people just don't want the refs to actually call the penalties. So again I ask, why not put the blame on the players commiting the penalties? I'm guessing nobody had a problem with the refs calling offsides on Griffen in the first game. Why is it a issue for other obvious calls?
on Rhoades... not really that I recall, it became an issue last year when they put emphasis on it.on Cook... that has always been allowed, as far as your version.. i think it was a bit more in the gray than you make it sound, but there has always been rub routes and even on sunday it wasnt called by the dozen refs on the field, it came after a review in NY. I didnt say the refs are screwing the Vikes on the holds called, I am saying they were helping the puke for not calling the holds that they said they were going to emphasize.
if you dont want to acknowledge referee bias...then dont, but its not like it doesnt happen, or maybe you missed the part about taking it easy on Tom... the teams and players are not all treated the same in the eyes of the league or the officials.
Vikings DPI penalties under Zimmer.2014 - tied for 7th most
2015 - tied for 10th most
2016 - tied for 11th most
2017 - tied for 23rd most (best year)
2018 - tied for 13th mostCheck PFF, although I don't agree with their grading system, they always knock Rhodes down because of penalties.
And no, pick plays are not allowed. They have been called penalties for years. A receiver can impede a defender (rub route by just getting in the way), if done without blatenly blocking them or running through them, but blocking down field on a pass play has been a penalty as long as I can remember. Cook actively blocked the defender with his hand on him.
And the Brady thing, do you know what play that was after? And the quote was "stay off Tom". Was the defender just laying on Brady for too long?
Do you have a bias against refs?
Rhodes struggled last year between penalties and hiS coverage due to the way they started to enforce illegal contact - the rest of the team stats are irrelevant.I dont care about PFF and how they grade players, its typically a joke.
and when everybody that has seen that Cook play say WTF, announcers, other players, fuck even packer fans are questioning the call and saying it was a stretch of the rules to make that call... go ahead and argue. (even former heads of officiating said the call on Cook was weak)
I believe the comment about brady was made before the game IIRC. either way "stay off Tom" how is that supposed to be taken. if the defender doesnt hear that about every player that he tackles... how is it to be taken?
bias against refs, no I have a bias against poor or unbalanced officiating, a bias against a league that changes rules and enforcement arbitrarily. the NFL has become a joke in how their officials are calling the games, and honestly its not really mostly on them when they fuck up any more, with the constant dicking with the rules, how are they supposed to keep it all straight?
The point about Rhodes is not his PFF grade, that's meaningless, but they track penalties on players and Rhodes has more penalties against him than most DBs. That's the point.And about penalties, I always have this come in my head...
https://media2.giphy.com/media/a5Edxzop5reAU/giphy.gif?cid=19f5b51a3e1805ee428496a9f49a54bcfd5aa60a0b264f2c&rid=giphy.gif
if the laws are not gray, evenly applied and consistently called, sure I can go with that, but when the league decides to "emphasize" certain aspects thus changing how the game is to be played all the time thats BS.The PFF was irrelevant because the stat you showed was as a team, if he was a penalty problem teams would just go at him relentlessly.
@"silverjoel" said: Why is all of the blame on the refs for calling the penalties and none of the blame on the players for commiting the penalties?Because the refs are part timers...
Okay. Those penalty stats aren't from PFF.
Here, I found Rhodes specifically, just for you.
2014 - 8 penalties, 3rd most on the team.
2015 - 9 penalties, most on the team.
2016 - 8 penalties, tied for most on the team.
2017 - 7 penalties, tied for most on the team.
2018 - 6 penalties, tied for 2nd most on the team.
https://www.footballdb.com/stats/penalties-player.html?yr=2018&tm=18
Do you believe Rhodes has a history of penalties?
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